Why are we so pish at tackling, we are so inept at it and its so painful to watch …

[justme]

(our) players can't afford to take the risk of a shite/bent referee giving a penalty

exactly, take Mac Allister today. booked in the first 5 minutes or there about for basically half a tug that didnt even make contact with the wolves player..
There was a time when players were allowed one foul or something like what happened with Mac Allister. Seems we are being targeted more and more with silly cards.
I imagine Webb saying.. Look at Liverpool they have a very good discipline record, we are not doing our jobs correctly..
I dont trust him never have

[Bredred]

This is Jurgens way, scamper towards the ball, to harry a mistake and if we get it keep control.
We absolutely do not press teams we harass the ball carrier, a true press (Italian style) goes man for man.

Every team we play now is almost completely unmarked giving the ability to pass around us at will.
I could criticize this method at length, but Jurgen has used this method of ball retention to tire the opposition.
It does not (apparently) need heavy or forceful tackles merely dislodge or disrupt the opposition flow.
I personally hate it , but hey ho it has served Jergen well, and I dont see it changing anytime soon.

[Nineteenx]

This is Jurgens way, scamper towards the ball, to harry a mistake and if we get it keep control.
We absolutely do not press teams we harass the ball carrier, a true press (Italian style) goes man for man.

No we pressed and counter pressed expertly through 18-20 Jurgen just messed that up thereafter

To true press, you don't have to go man for man, because you can block lines that prevent the possibility of the ball being played to certain players and as long as you do that very well, you can have players man for man on 7 or 8 players with 2 or 3 men extra

You can't play tappy crappy with a designated playmaker and play a top class pressing and counter pressing game, as the first needs more players making runs away from opposition players into space which leaves you without enough players man for man if/when you lose the ball for the second to ever be top class again

[BOBPAISLEYFAN]

I was not advocating the Tommy Smith / Vinny Jones school of tackling as those days are long gone, but if you are seriously suggesting that we were going to spend £115M on a defensive midfielder to just harass / scare opposing players rather than take the ball off them á la Kante at his best, maybe it is me…. but seriously I think not.

I will never understand why we allow opposing players to execute simple Sunday league style movement and blatantly obvious 1 - 2 ‘s without being able to defend them properly. Our inability to anticipate the outcome and defend/ tackle these low resolution plays I think this is simply not acceptable

I totally understand the principals of practicing rondos and trying to limit any physical contact in training but surely this apparent reluctance to actively engage the opposition physically, creates more problems than it solves and this was all to evident against Wolves on Saturday…

I understand the comments about not giving trigger happy Referees the opportunity to issue yellow or worse red cards against us, but if we are going to allow our way of defending to be influenced by the current level of poor refereeing, we are in big trouble… at home and in Europe..

There are times, especially when we are not playing as fluently as we know we can, we just need to stop being so bloody nice at times and fight fire with fire, and stop being such a bloody soft touch.

Rant over

[Nineteenx]

The press and counter press and positioning needs sorting and that will take time, that's all

In Fab's absence in 19-20 we restricted almost all opponents to barely any attempts on goal, without our players throwing themselves into tackles, most barely had any meaningful possession in our half of the pitch

[Bredred]

I was not advocating the Tommy Smith / Vinny Jones school of tackling as those days are long gone, but if you are seriously suggesting that we were going to spend £115M on a defensive midfielder to just harass / scare opposing players rather than take the ball off them á la Kante at his best, maybe it is me…. but seriously I think not.

I will never understand why we allow opposing players to execute simple Sunday league style movement and blatantly obvious 1 - 2 ‘s without being able to defend them properly. Our inability to anticipate the outcome and defend/ tackle these low resolution plays I think this is simply not acceptable

I totally understand the principals of practicing rondos and trying to limit any physical contact in training but surely this apparent reluctance to actively engage the opposition physically, creates more problems than it solves and this was all to evident against Wolves on Saturday…

I understand the comments about not giving trigger happy Referees the opportunity to issue yellow or worse red cards against us, but if we are going to allow our way of defending to be influenced by the current level of poor refereeing, we are in big trouble… at home and in Europe..

There are times, especially when we are not playing as fluently as we know we can, we just need to stop being so bloody nice at times and fight fire with fire, and stop being such a bloody soft touch.

Rant over

Totally agree , if you cannot stop fast interpassing, the very least you can do is get closer.

[retired]

Man. U, the bar codes and more clubs climb all over the opponents when they have the ball, and nothing happens. ??? frustrating

[redebreck]

Man. U, the bar codes and more clubs climb all over the opponents when they have the ball, and nothing happens. ??? frustrating

Legally, or illegally?
I can remember occasions when Jizzfest, and others, have been WWE grappling our players, Mo in particular, and getting away with it.
It's up to Jurgen and the club to put a stop to it.

[Nineteenx]

Totally agree , if you cannot stop fast interpassing, the very least you can do is get closer.

That's the point about pressing and counter pressing being done properly, always attacking when defending and defending when attacking

Done right our players should all be coordinated, picking up opposition players when we have possession, who could be used to counter or to transition, while also being positioned to move to join our attack if the opportunity arises to, at which point another of our players should move onto the player they left

This should be so easy for everyone to grasp